What to do with leftover Bolognaise sauce? This is what I found myself wondering after Nick pulled the remaining Bolognaise out of the freezer earlier this week. I wasn’t in the mood for pasta. But wait! I just bought an eggplant at the épicerie across the street. I had no plans for it, but it was so beautiful and perfect that I just had to buy it. What if I were to stuff this eggplant with the Bolognaise? That sounds pretty tasty… with a little green salad, maybe some goat cheese… I’m doing it. I’ll just make it into a filling with some breadcrumbs, Grana Padano, and an egg. Piece of cake. Except I don’t have any breadcrumbs. Nor do I have a food processor. Or even a half-eaten baguette to grate. Hmm. I’ll just get a cheap baguette, tear it up, dry it out in the oven, and smash it with a rolling pin.

This plan actually worked pretty well. It would have worked beautifully if the plastic bag I put the bread in to contain the crumbs wasn’t so darn flimsy. After cleaning up the mess I made, I still had plenty of breadcrumbs to make my filling.

First, however, there was the matter of the eggplant. I cut it in half, then scored around the edge of each cut side to create about a 1/2 inch-thick shell. I scored the centers into cubes and cut/pulled them out and placed them in a colander. I salted the shells and placed them face-down on a paper towel. I salted the extra flesh as well, and left it all to drain for about half an hour.